The Bulgarian Boyfriends, by Eduardo Mendicutti. Autumn 2021
The Bulgarian Boyfriends is one of the best-known novels by the Cádiz-born writer Eduardo Mendicutti (Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Cádiz, 1948). In addition to being a novelist, Mendicutti is a journalist, a profession from which he graduated at university; and also a poet, actor, theatre director and playwright, and a political and cultural activist. His commitment to the defence of the rights of the gay community is proved in his literary work, in which he usually addresses homosexuality as the central theme -normally garnished with his characteristic sense of humour-, and through his activist faccet. Mendicutti's first two novels, Tatuaje (Tattoo) (1972) and Cenizas (Ashes) (1974) suffered Franco's censorship.
"I was a gentleman and had a Bulgarian boyfriend. But now I am left without a boyfriend and I doubt that I am still a gentleman". This is how The Bulgarian Boyfriends begins, a love story starring Daniel Vergara, a man in his forties who defines himself as a gentleman, and who usually seeks the company of hustlers in the Puerta del Sol of Madrid. And the Bulgarian boyfriend that Daniel is referring to is called Kyril, a rogue who will drag him into all kinds of adventures, not always pleasant or legal.
The main objective of the Reading Club is to improve the reading comprehension and speaking in Spanish. Furthermore, the participants will get to know the life and work of Eduardo Mendicutti and will receive contextual explanations of the situations narrated in the novel.
The Autumn 2021 Reading Club will be given entirely online. There will be 7 sessions that will take place via Zoom free software. The sessions will be in Spanish and in each class we will cover linguistic aspects that aid the understanding of the text.
